Main Cast: Kim Novak, Fredric March, Glenda Farrell, Albert Dekker, Martin Balsam
Release Year: 1959
Country: US
Run Time: 118 minutes
Plot
Scripter Paddy Chayevsky altered his successful stageplay for this routine cinematic version of Middle of the Night, emphasizing the self-centered interests of the relatives and friends who surround Jerry Kingsley (Fredric March). Jerry is a widower, a lonely but successful clothing manufacturer who falls in love with Betty Preisser (Kim Novak), one of his employees. The employee-boss relationship is one hurdle the erstwhile couple have to overcome, another is the thirty-year difference in their ages, and the last is the attitudes of the couples' relatives -- each close relative (mother, daughter, sister) feels marginated by the relationship, left out in the cold, forgotten. These attitudes do not bode well for any future walk up the aisle. Director Delbert Mann is best known for his 1955, award-winning Marty. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Review
Middle of the Night is very much a product of the 1950s, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. True, some of Middle's story feels dated, and the décor, clothes and other trappings are part of that decade; but what places Middle squarely in the 1950s really is its atmosphere, its style of filmmaking. There's a seriousness of intent here which isn't meant to imply there is no comedy; rather, this is about filmmakers intent on capturing the small moments of everyday lives and analyzing it in a manner that seems very much a product of its times and different from the manner in which the ordinary was viewed by films in the 1940s or the 1960s. Some will find this approach a bit too studied, will find that Paddy Chayefsky's dialogue is a bit too theatrical for the "everydayness" of the setting. But that theatricality gives the film a distinctive flavor, as well as a wit and insight that is rewarding. Delbert Mann's direction is also a bit on the stodgy side, lacking in sufficient visual flair, but it does allow his performers to strut their stuff, and they do not disappoint. Kim Novak turns in a very fine performance, revealing more of her talent than most roles allowed, and Fredric March, while perhaps not the ideal candidate for Chayefsky's Jewish milieu, makes Jerry a very real and very sympathetic character. The supporting cast is excellent, with special nods to the superb work of Lee Grant and Martin Balsam. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Lee Grant - Marilyn; Lee Philips - George Preisser; Edith Meiser - Evelyn Kingsley; Joan Copeland - Lillian Kingsley; Betty Walker - Rosalind Neiman, the Widow; Lou Gilbert - Sherman; Rudy Bond - Gould; Effie Afton - Mrs. Carroll; Jan Norris - Alice Mueller; David Ford - Paul Kingsley; Dora Weissman - Lucy, Lockman's Wife; Lee Richardson - Joey, Lockman's Son; Anna Berger - Caroline; Nelson Olmsted - Erskine
Credit
Edward S. Haworth - Art Director, Jean Louis - Costume Designer, Frank Thompson - Costume Designer, Delbert Mann - Director, Carl Lerner - Editor, George Bassman - Composer (Music Score), George Bassman - Musical Direction/Supervision, George Newman - Makeup, Leo Kerz - Production Designer, Joseph Brun - Cinematographer, George Justin - Producer, Jack Wright Jr. - Set Designer, Paddy Chayefsky - Screenwriter, Paddy Chayefsky - Play Author
A 56-year-old clothing manufacturer (March) falls in love with 24-year-old Novak, much to the dismay of both families. Future Oscar winners Martin Balsam (A Thousand Clowns, 1965) and Lee Grant (Shampoo, 1975) also star in this film, which was mildly controversial in its day.
"Lights Out" (1949) •"The Philco Television Playhouse" (1949 - 1955) •"Goodyear Television Playhouse" (1951 - 1955) •"Producers' Showcase" (1955) •"Playwrights '56" (1955 - 1956) •"Ford Star Jubilee" (1956) •"Omnibus" (1956 - 1957) •"The DuPont Show of the Month" (1958) •"Playhouse 90" (1958 - 1959) •"NBC Sunday Showcase" (1959) •"Startime" (1960) •Heidi (1968) •"CBS Playhouse" (1968) •David Copperfield (1969) •Jane Eyre (1970) •She Waits (1972) •No Place to Run (1972) •The Man Without a Country (1973) •The First Woman President (1974) •The Legendary Curse of the Hope Diamond (1975) •A Girl Named Sooner (1975) •Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident (1976) •Tell Me My Name (1977) •Breaking Up (1978) •Home to Stay (1978) •Tom and Joann (1978) •Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery (1978) •Torn Between Two Lovers (1979) •All Quiet on the Western Front (1979) •To Find My Son (1980) •"Insight" (1981) •All the Way Home (1981) •The Member of the Wedding (1982) •The Gift of Love: A Christmas Story (1983) •Love Leads the Way: A True Story (1984) •A Death in California (1985) •The Last Days of Patton (1986) •The Ted Kennedy Jr. Story (1976) •Tell Me My Name (1977) •Breaking Up (1986) •April Morning (1988) •Ironclads (1991) •Against Her Will: An Incident in Baltimore (1992) •Incident in a Small Town (1994) •Lily in Winter (1994)
